From this article in the Houston Chronicle, A&M-Corpus Christi is getting more attractive for expansion. With their new arena, a decent BB team, good coach, recruiting in Texas, attractive location, baseball program, and travel partnership with UT-Pan Am, this would offset the travel issues.

A&M-Corpus sees future in new arena
By RICHARD DEAN
Copyright 2003Houston Chronicle
Three days after his basketball team beat Texas A&M 82-80, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi coach Ronnie Arrow was still ecstatic.

Sure, he was upbeat because of a road win over a Big 12 team, but Arrow was pleased on another front. The Islanders' 9,200-seat arena is, according to Arrow, 48 percent complete and should be ready for the 2004-05 season.

School officials say that along with the city's beauty and location, the new arena should be the selling point for top recruits and a conference membership. Now in its fifth year of existence, the NCAA Division I program has never dropped its independent status. The school's next goal is a conference affiliation, and the arena could make it a reality.

"It's already helped in recruiting, and we hope it's the last key that will get us into a conference," said Arrow, who won three national championships at San Jacinto College.

Just a little fact about SDSU's Basketball team so far this year. They are 16-0 ranked #3 in the nation. They should move to #1 in the next D-II poll as both #1 Southern Indiana, and #2 Humboldt State lost this weekend.

Andy Moeller's free-throw line jumper gave South Dakota State a four-point lead with 15 seconds remaining as the Jackrabbits held on to defeat Michigan Tech 64-60 in a battle of unbeaten teams Saturday in Houghton, Mich.

Tech had rallied from double-digit deficits in each half and took the lead at 57-56 on two free throws by Bob Evans. But back-to-back baskets by Jared DeJong and a field goal by Derrick Schantz pushed the Jacks on top 62-57.

A 3-pointer by Marquise Richardson at the buzzer gave the Jacks a 37-29 halftime lead after Tech had rallied from a 30-17 deficit to get within 32-29. SDSU opened a 43-29 lead following two free throws by Beran with 16:11 to play, then Tech's defense led the comeback that saw the Huskies tie the game at 49. SDSU had just four second-half field goals before DeJong scored at the 3:32 mark, putting the Jacks on top 58-57. The Jacks finished the second half 8-for-22, 36.4 percent.

But the Jacks still outshot the Huskies 46 percent to 31.1 percent, and SDSU had a 40-33 rebounding advantage.

Josh Buettner led Tech with 24 points while Evans had 10.

The Jacks were against shorthanded as neither Matt Jones nor Josh Cerveny made the trip to Michigan.

SDSU will open North Central Conference play at home next weekend, hosting the University of South Dakota on Friday and Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday.

Last edited by 89rabbit on Mon Jan 05, 2004 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

In Water's response, he more or less admitted that Denver and Idaho will no longer be members of the SunBelt Conference by 2005. He also said they wouldn't be abandoned. What this probably means is that Idaho is going to the WAC, and Denver has an invite to the MidCOn. What this probably means for the Mid-Con is that the following travel partner arrangements will be made:

Question (Chris Morris): The following is a quote from you in a piece by Peter Finney that appeared in the New Orleans Times Picayune on Wed. Dec. 17, 2003. "Beginning in the academic year of 2005-06, it will be a 12-team, two-division league. In the East we'll have Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Troy State, Middle Tennessee, South Alabama and Western Kentucky," Waters said. "In the West, we'll have North Texas, Arkansas State, Arkansas-Little Rock, Louisiana-Lafayette, UNO and a Louisiana school still to be determined." What I want to know is what/whom did you mean by "a Louisiana school still to be determined"? Not too many scenarios that could play out that has only one of the Louisiana teams besides the Cajuns. (1) ULM joins in all sports and (a) LTU stays in WAC; (b) LTU goes to C-USA; or (c) LTU is forced to play as an Indy by WAC; or (2) LTU joins Sun Belt and (a) ULM forced to play as Indy by SBC; (b) ULM drops to 1AA. UNLESS.......You were referring to all-sports members and ULM is still allowed to be a football only member of the Sun Belt. Please clarify your statement; and with all due respect, without sounding like a politician. The "other Louisiana school", it's students, faculty, alumni, community, supporters, and fans deserve a straight answer.
Commissioner Wright Waters: Chris I think you have answered your own question by explaining all the different scenarios still to be played out. As to your demand for a straight answer, sometimes the straightest answer may be no comment.

also:

Quote:

We will not abandon Denver or Idaho, but it is obvious that their travel issues will be impacted by the move of USU and NMSU.

Another thing that SDSU can deliver to the Mid-Con, Big Sky, or whomever (besides very good basketball) is fans. SDSU's home court is Frost Arena with a listed capacity of 9,000 and a record crowd of 9,456. In the past 7 years SDSU has lead the NCAA D-II in attendence 5 times and never finished bellow 3rd. IN '98 SDSU Avg. 5,350 fans per game. We will sell out our Conf. opener this Friday night. Here is a link to take a look at Frost.

Valparaiso is not. What does that tell you, especially since their membership is only two years old? I'm sure that Valpo would rather make a trip to the Dakotas every 2-3 years, than to Saint George, Shreveport, and Tulsa every year! IUPUI and Valpo "too good" for the Mid-Con...now that's funny...also, mad props to the now-defunct Tarkio...where exactly was that located?

Wow, way to make absolutely no sense. They would still have to travel to 3 of those places in the western division once a year, and depending on where the Conference tourney was held, would have to go clear across the continent....

Youngstown State has abso-positively-nothing with Valpo and IUPUI, they bolted because THEY didn't want to go to Tulsa and SW Utah. Even the moderator started a thread stating that Valpo should look to join the Horizon, though now IUPUI is starting to gain more equal footing with them, with their win at Valpo tonight.
The Horizon had to rebuild after the A-10 ransacked them, and 6 teams (Cleveland State, UIC, Northern Illinois, Wisconsins Milwaukee and GB, and Wright State) from the Mid-Con jumped ship for the Horizon.
The new version of the Mid-Con was more sprawled, going from a compact Ohio-Wisconsin stretch to ranging from Connecticut to Kansas City to southern Alabama. By 1998, the northeastern schools and Troy State had all left, with NE Illinois about to drop out of D1, Oral Roberts and Southern Utah were added, sprawling the conference out even more. By now, Youngstown was the odd man out, their closest travel destinations were Oakland and IUPUI, so they bolted in 2002 in favor of the more compact Horizon. With Centenary now added, the sprawl goes from Detroit to SW Utah to Shreveport. Add the Dakotas and Colorado to that mix, you'll rack up the frequent flyer miles quickly. That might be enough to send the two IN schools packing for the Horizon, not for lack of competiton (which I NEVER made a statement as such, reread the first post), but for easing of travel costs, as they would once again be in that Ohio-Wisconsin compact region. AND, as I had pointed out before, it does come with built in rivalries for both squads, as Valpo has UIC and Loyola at their back door, and IUPUI-Butler would ignite a Crosstown Shootout in Indy.
I've never said myself that the Mid-Con is a bad league, or that IUPUI and Valpo were too good for them. It's just as the league is expanding westward, these two schools would start feeling more like geographic misfits...

And I do have my own plan to add for if the do leave... add Texas A&M-CC and IPFW... divisions would look as such:
EAST
Centenary
Chicago State
IPFW
Oakland
Texas A&M-CC
Western Illinois
WEST
Missouri-Kansas City
North Dakota State
Northern Colorado
Oral Roberts
South Dakota State
Southern Utah

and there's still 8 eligible teams with the 13-year moratorium reduced to 5...

East
Bradley
Butler
Evansville
Illinois State
Indiana State
Western Kentucky

To make up for that lost, the Horizon reacts by adding 3 from the Mid-Con and one Indy. IUPUI, Valpo, and Oakland from the Mid-Con, and IPFW from the Indy ranks. The Horizon would then form 2 new divisions of six teams.

Horizon League

West
UIC
IUPUI
Loyola
Valpo
Wisconsin-Green Bay
Wisconsin-Milwaukee

East
Cleveland State
Detroit
IPFW
Oakland
Wright State
Youngstown State

Then the Mid-Con reacts, with the lose of Valpo, IUPUI, and Oakland. The Mid-Con becomes more of a central plains conference with the additon of North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Denver, Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Texas Pan American.

I am watching the Mid-Con game of the week on Fox Net - Central (Oakland vs Chicago St.) and at half time the TV crew talked with Oakland's President Dr. Gary Russi. Dr. Russi said that expansion is a "hot topic" and that the Mid-Con will be having meetings soon on that topic. He went onto say that the question is how big, do they stop at ten, or possibly go to 12 teams and have divisional play "East-West".

I've said it before, and I will say it again. It makes sense to go to 12 and cut down on the travel costs. With 9 teams currently it would make sense to add SDSU, NDSU, and UNC (especially since they, and SUU, will all be in the Football only Conf. that the Mid-Con is going to administer). That is if the Big Sky does not beat them to the punch.

Last edited by 89rabbit on Sat Jan 31, 2004 1:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Here is part of a story from the Sioux Falls, SD newspaper. It talks about SDSU's upcoming football schedules. As you can see in the article the GWC (or whatever they end up calling it) the new football only conf. that the Mid-Con is will be administrating, has been a big help for us.

I also noticed that we are set to play Valpo in '05. Between the Mid-Con's administration of a football only leauge (that has current Mid-Con member SUU in it), our playing current Mid-Con member Valpo, and news coming out of the Mid-Con, I am speculating that SDSU is moving ever closer to being asked to join the Mid-Con for all sports except football (along with NDSU & UNC).

Playing Valpo also got me thinking about an idea that Quinn had posted a little while ago. Namely that the Mid-Con would sponsor football outright with some "California Football Only" members. This lead me to wonder, wouldn't Valpo be a great member if they wanted to start offering scholarships. If they did and a Mid-Con football conf. took off, it would give Valpo a chance at the I-AA playoffs. Something they will never get in the Pioneer Leauge. To quote an old song, "things that make you go hmmm".

Much travel awaits SDSU's football team
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com

published: 2/5/2004

Jackrabbits scheduled to make three trips to California next fall

BROOKINGS - South Dakota State University released nine games on its travel-filled 2004 football schedule Wednesday.

The announcement came on the NCAA's national signing day, the first day recruits cuold officially join SDSU's program in its trek to Division I-AA.

The Jackrabbits will venture to Georgia, Montana and Colorado, along with making three trips to California next season, their first at the I-AA level.

SDSU will also play five home games at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, for a total of 11 games. A home contest against North Dakota State still sits as tentative as a date is worked out. Hobo Day will be on Oct. 23, but the opponent is yet to be determined.

"It really fell into shape," SDSU football coach John Stiegelmeier said. "I think one of the things that helped out was the push to try to get this conference accelerated. People, I think, adjusted some of their schedules (to fit in SDSU)."

Games with five of the six other schools that are in the final stages of forming a I-AA football league with SDSU are also on tap. Along with NDSU, those schools are California-Davis, St. Mary's (Calif.), Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and Northern Colorado. Only Southern Utah is not on the schedule.

But perhaps the most pleasing news to football purists in the state is the Jackrabbits have cemented a game with Augustana for Nov. 6 in Brookings.

"I'm happy that it worked out," said Vikings coach Jim Heinitz, himself an SDSU alum. "Every team in the NCC has a bye, and we wanted to play someone of quality. SDSU was open and we were open, so it was good for everyone. I believe it's a good idea to maintain that rivalry."

In all, SDSU's I-AA travel will entail nearly 6,500 miles between Brookings and the other universities. Last season, the Jackrabbit football squad logged just over 2,000 miles to five road games. That included trips to Western Oregon and Winona State.

The 2004 schedule has only three Division II opponents -ÊAugustana, Winona State and Western Oregon. The University of South Dakota, the Jackrabbits' chief rival in Division II, has been scheduled, and the Coyotes do not have any open dates that coincide with those on SDSU's list.

The Jacks' most interesting game is at Georgia Southern on Oct. 30 in Statesboro, Ga. The Eagles, who play at Division I-A Georgia to open the season, finished 7-4 in 2003 but are typically a perennial I-AA power. . .

. . .In releasing this fall's slate, SDSU also teased its 2005 schedule by revealing four already-set games against I-AA opponents:

• At Northern Iowa on Sept. 17, 2005;

• Home against Cal-Davis on Oct. 8, 2005;

• Home against St. Mary's on Oct. 22, 2005;

• And home against Georgia Southern on Oct. 29, 2005.

Stiegelmeier also said a tentative agreement has been hashed out for 2005 with Valparaiso in Indiana.

"You're always working ahead," he said. "I'm going to be calling some I-A schools, the lower echelon. As we work to get this conference going, I've got to check out anybody."

Last edited by 89rabbit on Thu Feb 05, 2004 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The majority of the Mid-Con school Presidents and Athletic Departments are probably not too eager to have a conference of 12 teams battling for 1 bid to the NCAA Tournament. I also don't think the Mid-Con has ever had more than 10 teams at once. If it did, that couldn't have been for more than one year.

I still think Sacramento State might be the key to future Mid-Con expansion. That's because a Sacramento State move to the Big West would probably trigger the Big Sky to take Southern Utah, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State as replacements. The Mid-Con could then add Northern Colorado and Denver.

Unfortunately, this would destroy the Great West Football Conference since only UC Davis and Cal Poly would be left. Sacramento State would also be sitting out west along with San Diego, currently in the non-scholarship Pioneer League. Some type of east-west deal with the five-team Big South would have to be done.

Given this scenario, Sacramento State may remain in the Big Sky anyway. Expanding to 12 may still be possible for the Mid-Con with North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Northern Colorado ... but ... once again ... 12 teams ... 1 bid. Also, Texas-Pan American and TAMU-Corpus Christi may a bit too far south and west.

I think you are on to something, but I am going to modify it slightly. I am going to say that Sac State joins the Big West and Great West for football. The Big Sky takes Southern Utah. The Mid-Con takes SDSU, NDSU, UNC, and Denver. They would do this because although you would have 12 team fighting for 1 NCAA Auto Bid it would allow the Mid-Con to go to a Division formate and cut down travel costs. I think it would add some stability to the Conference as well and allow it to grow (and get better) to a point that you would see more then one school get a bid, much like the Missouri Valley is today.

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